I consider myself something like a student, autodidact or otherwise, of cinema and––even still, must confess––had not ever grasped the concept of Argentine noir. Credit to Criterion Channel, who’ll expand my horizons with February’s program (concisely titled “Argentine Noir”) that includes one known title––Pierre Chenal’s Native Son, an Argentine film from a French director adapting an American novel about the African-American experience in Chicago––and five I look forward to discovering. Retrospective-wise, their wide-reaching Claudette Colbert program could double as a lesson in Old Hollywood, between Capra, Stahl, DeMille, Lubitsch, Sirk, and Sturges. February, of course, brings Black History Month and Valentine’s Day: the former engenders a series featuring films such as Nothing but a Man, Portrait of Jason, and Losing Ground; the latter brings “New York Love Stories,” from Carol to Crossing Delancey to, curiously, Annie Hall, which likely would not have streamed just a few years ago.
Crossing Delancey gets a Criterion Edition alongside Chilly Scenes of Winter; both are in a new Joan Micklin Silver program including the Carol Kane-starring Hester Street and Shelley Duvall-led Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Chantal Akerman’s Toute une nuit, Jean Grémillion’s Remorques, and Sara Gomez’s One Way or Another (itself part of a larger director retrospective) all stream in new restorations. Phantom Thread also streams, but I’d really encourage you to buy the incredible-looking 4K if you’ve got the means.
See the full list of films streaming in February and more at the Criterion Channel:
About Extra Hours and Volunteer Work, Sara Gómez, 1973
All Shall Be Well, Ray Yeung, 2024
An Island for Miguel, Sara Gómez, 1968
And . . . We’ve Got Sabor, Sara Gómez, 1967
And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead, Billy Woodberry, 2015
Annie Hall, Woody Allen, 1977
The Apple of My Eye, Axelle Ropert, 2016
Arthur, Steve Gordon, 1981
Battling Butler, Buster Keaton, 1926
The Beast Must Die, Román Viñoly Barreto, 1952
Bernice Bobs Her Hair, Joan Micklin Silver, 1976
Between the Lines, Joan Micklin Silver, 1977
The Bitter Stems, Fernando Ayala, 1956
The Black Vampire, Román Viñoly Barreto, 1953
Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, Ernst Lubitsch, 1938
Carol, Todd Haynes, 2015*
Chilly Scenes of Winter, Joan Micklin Silver, 1979
Cleopatra, Cecil B. DeMille, 1934
Crossing Delancey, Joan Micklin Silver, 1988
A Documentary About Transit, Sara Gómez, 1971
Down with Love, Peyton Reed, 2003
The Egg and I, Chester Erskine, 1947
Eternity’s Pillar, Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, 1985–8
Excursion to Vueltabajo, 1965
Falling in Love, Ulu Grosbard, 1984
A Fish in the Bathtub, Joan Micklin Silver, 1999
Flipside, Christopher Wilcha, 2023
Frankie and Johnny, Garry Marshall, 1991*
The General, Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, 1926
The Gilded Lily, Wesley Ruggles, 1935
The Goodbye Girl, Herbert Ross, 1977
Go West, Buster Keaton, 1925
The Great Buster: A Celebration, Peter Bogdanovich, 2018
Guanabacoa: Chronicle of My Family, Sara Gómez, 1966
Hester Street, Joan Micklin Silver, 1975
Honor Among Lovers, Dorothy Arzner, 1931
I Like It Like That, Darnell Martin, 1994
I Met Him in Paris, Wesley Ruggles, 1937
I’ll Go to Santiago, Sara Gómez, 1964
If I Should Die Before I Wake, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952
Imitation of Life, John M. Stahl, 1934
It Could Happen to You, Andrew Bergman, 1994
It Happened One Night, Frank Capra, 1934
It’s My Turn, Claudia Weill, 1980
Kissing Jessica Stein, Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, 2001
Local Power, Popular Power, Sara Gómez, 1970
Maid of Salem, Frank Lloyd, 1937
Mário, Billy Woodberry, 2024
Marseille après la guerre, Billy Woodberry, 2005
Miss and the Doctors, Axelle Ropert, 2013
Moonstruck, Norman Jewison, 1987
My Contribution, Sara Gómez, 1972
Nationtime, William Greaves, 1972
Native Son, Pierre Chenal, 1951
The Navigator, Buster Keaton and Donald Crisp, 1924
Never Open That Door, Carlos Hugo Christensen, 1952
No Time for Love, Mitchell Leisen, 1943
On Sugar Workers’ Quarters, Sara Gómez, 1971
On the Other Island, Sara Gómez, 1968
One Way or Another, Sara Gómez, 1977
The Palm Beach Story, Preston Sturges, 1942
Petite Solange, Axelle Ropert, 2021
Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017
The Pocketbook, Billy Woodberry, 1980
Prenatal Care, Sara Gómez, 1972
Raising Victor Vargas, Peter Sollett, 2002
A Season with Isabella Rossellini, Marian Lacombe, 2023
Seven Chances, Buster Keaton, 1925
Sherlock Jr., Buster Keaton, 1924
Skylark, Mark Sandrich, 1941
Something Wild, Jonathan Demme, 1986
Steamboat Bill, Jr., Buster Keaton, 1928
A Story from Africa, Billy Woodberry, 2019
Thunder on the Hill, Douglas Sirk, 1951
Torch Singer, Alexander Hall and George Somnes, 1933
Toute une nuite, Chantal Akerman, 1982
Treasure Island, Sara Gómez, 1969
The Wolberg Family, Axelle Ropert, 2009
Year One, Sara Gómez, 1972
*Available in the U.S. only